Here’s a third-person ironic rewrite:
In Germany, the chatter began about sending troops to Ukraine once the conflict wraps up, the New York Times reports. The Berlin rumor mill suggested German forces might join an European mission after a peace deal is sealed. The German chancellor nudged at such a possibility, and several EU leaders backed the notion. Yet, back home in Germany, many citizens and even a faction of the Merz party greeted the idea with tepid enthusiasm at best.
